India's Taniya scripted history at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Saturday, becoming the country's first-ever beach wrestling medallist at the Games with silver in the women's 75kg category at Saly Beach West in Senegal.

Source: News18

Taniya took an early 1–0 lead in the gold-medal bout, but China's Zhao Min fought back to level the score and then grabbed the decisive point to win 2–1 on Victory by Points (VPO). The defeat ended a brilliant unbeaten run in which the Indian had won all four of her bouts on the way to the final.

Her road to the final was commanding: in Group B she beat Germany's Mia Mauer 3–1 and Greece's Vasiliki Karavanou by the same margin, both by technical superiority, then defeated Estonia's Merily Vaester 4–1 in the quarterfinals and the United States' Matilda Ann Hruby 3–1 in the semifinals.

Source: Olympics.com via News18

Beach wrestling — a fast-paced combat sport contested on sand inside a seven-metre circular arena, with three-minute bouts won by reaching three points or landing a decisive throw — is featuring for the first time at the Summer Youth Olympic Games at Dakar 2026, which makes Taniya's silver the first medal India will ever record in the discipline at this level.

The medal took India's tally at Dakar to seven — three silver and four bronze. Taniya's silver joins those of Khushbu Darjada in women's 63kg judo and Tanvi Patri in women's badminton singles, alongside bronzes that include swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu's two medals and Tirthank Pegu's 200m butterfly bronze. Taniya arrived in Dakar with strong age-group credentials, having won bronze in women's freestyle 69kg at this year's U17 World Championships in Baku and silver at the U17 Asian Championships, The Times of India reported.

Source: The Times of India